A new survey from the American Automobile Association lists Honolulu as the most expensive city in the United States for vacationers.

The average price for meals and lodging for two adults per day, at least according to AAA’s 2008 Annual Vacation Costs Survey? $673.

That’s more than second place New York City, which AAA estimates at $606 per couple, per day; and third place Miami at $370 a day.

Of that $673 per day spent in Honolulu, AAA says $546 goes to lodging and $127 on meals.

As longtime residents, we know that Honolulu (and Hawaii, in general) can be pricey. Still, AAA’s numbers seemed hard to believe. There are lots of places to stay for under $546 a night, and we could eat pretty well on $127 a day.

The numbers don’t match Hawaii’s own surveys, given to all visitors leaving Honolulu International Airport. Couples reported spending an average $368 per day on Oahu, in 2007. That number included not just lodging and food, but activities, shopping and ground transportation.

So how the heck did AAA get its figures, which were widely reported? 

The good news for everyone—except, perhaps, AAA members—is that the company’s numbers are sort of bogus.

Spokesperson Marie Montgomery told us that AAA’s Annual Vacation Costs Survey is based solely on numbers provided by hotels and restaurants requesting to be included in AAA’s diamond rating program or 50-state TourBook series. The company did not have a breakdown of how many Honolulu-based hotels and restaurants reported numbers to them, but said that it currently tracks more than 100 of each throughout Hawaii.

This methodology—which is skewed by a large number of luxury properties seeking AAA’s potentially lucrative five-diamond rating—leaves out many hotels and restaurants in Honolulu. It also doesn’t include condos, timeshare rentals and bed-and-breakfasts.

Further, AAA seems to be averaging high-end suites (of which there are only a few) in with standard hotel rooms (of which there are plenty) at each property, in order to come up with its $673 figure.

“I believe that most seasoned travelers realize, ‘Gosh, I don’t have to pay that much.’ By the same token, it would be nice to have a more realistic average,” said AAA’s Montgomery. “It’s just these are the numbers that the hotels themselves give us. They don’t give us the average rate that all of their customers paid for a room in a year. They just give us the rate that they want us to publish in the TourBook.”

State of Hawaii tourism liaison Marsha Wienert found the AAA survey hard to believe.  

“I thought, ‘How could (visitors) spend that much money?’ That makes no sense to me. Not when I know what they really spend. The (actual) numbers don’t come anywhere close to what AAA is saying.”

Of course, if you’d like to spend $673 a day here in Honolulu, that’s fine with us. We’d opt for a cheaper room and really live it up in the restaurants, however.

What do you think of AAA's numbers? Do you spend as much as $673 per day on just room and meals in Honolulu?

  

I love getting dim sum. If you like seeing food before you order it, there’s no better way to dine out.

And Mei Sum Chinese Dim Sum Restaurant is the place to have it when you’re in downtown Honolulu’s Chinatown district.

Carts of Hong-Kong-style dim sum are rolled around the restaurant right to your table. If you like what you see on the cart, just ask your server for it. Don’t like what you see? Wait for the next cart to come around. Instant gratification!

Going to a dim sum restaurant requires little prior experience or expertise in Chinese cuisine. If you’re unfamiliar with what’s on the cart, most restaurants have a menu with pictures and the names of each dish. If you’re still unsure about an entrée, you can always ask your server.

In addition to Mei Sum’s dim sum, you can also order entrées or starch dishes like noodles and fried rice. But most of the fun comes from checking out what’s on the carts.

We ordered pretty much everything we saw: from char siu bao (barbeque pork manapua), spareribs with black bean sauce, shrimp dumpling and shrimp pork hash (pictured above) to pot stickers, barbeque pork pastry and cold jellyfish (pictured to the right).

That’s right, cold jellyfish, which I was curious to taste. It was a bit chewy, and definitely an acquired taste.

A must-try though? The deep fried taro (pictured left).

The best thing about eating at Mei Sum is that it’s affordable. The price for each dim sum entrée depends on its category: small dishes will cost you $2.15, medium dishes are $2.55 and large dishes are $3.35.

Mei Sum is open for lunch, dinner or takeout. Reservations are highly recommended for large groups.

You’ll find Mei Sum at 65 N. Pauahi St. (on the corner of N. Pauahi and Smith St.). Call (808) 531-3268 for hours and more menu information.

  

Here’s something we're looking forward to. 

The 27th Annual Kapalua Wine & Food Festival will work its Maui magic from June 26-29 this year.

The three-day festival is presided over by Master Sommelier Fred Dame—who we enjoy for his genial wit, as well as his palate.

It kicks off Friday with chef demonstrations and a grand tasting with 100 wines, exceptional pupu and a Kapalua beachfront sunset. 

It ends Sunday with the Seafood Festival, a bounty of Island seafood, prepared by star chefs, with, of course, plenty of wines.

In between, there are tastings, cooking demonstrations, dinners and a guest appearance from Chef Frank Ostini, whose Hitching Post Restaurant had a starring role in the film Sideways.

Perhaps our favorite moment.  A seminar Sunday morning called “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” featuring Bloody Mary recipes from the star sommeliers.  Perhaps the seminar should be called, “Hair of the Dog.”

If you love food, wine and Maui (and it’s a short list of people who don’t), you can make reservations here, or (888) 665-9160.
 

Little Village Noodle House has been one of my favorite restaurants. This week, I’ve eaten lunch there twice.

It’s hard to resist this place because the food is excellent and the restaurant is within walking distance from our office.

The menu is divided into 12 sections: Appetizers, Soups, Salads, “Beef, Lamb & Pork,” Poultry, Seafood, Vegetarian, Rice, Noodles, Taste of Hong Kong, Desserts and Beverages. Everything is meant to be shared “family style.”

My list of must-haves includes the Honey Walnut Shrimp, Dried String Beans, Peking Duck, Pan Fried Beef, Eggplant with Garlic Sauce, Pecan Spinach Salad, Orange Chicken and Sweet and Sour Pork. I could go on and on, because everything I’ve eaten here has become one of my favorite dishes. 

But if I had to choose just one dish, it would have to be the jumbo-size Honey Walnut Shrimps (pictured left). According to their menu, the shrimps are tossed in a garlic-and-green-onion cream sauce and topped with honey walnuts. It’s almost like a seafood candy treat.

Little Village Noodle House is open for lunch and dinner. I strongly recommend making reservations before you go, because the popular restaurant has a tendency to get crowded. There’s even take out if you’re in a hurry.

 

After watching Anthony Bourdain eat at Puka Dog Waikiki during his food travelogue No Reservations on the Travel Network, I had to have a Puka Dog.

But “What is a Puka Dog?” you might ask.

A Puka Dog is like a hot dog, except with an unusual bun. A mini loaf of bread is toasted on a cylinder (pictured below), creating a puka (“hole” in Hawaiian), just the right size for the Polish sausage and condiments.

The menu is printed on a surfboard.


You chose a Polish sausage or veggie hot dog (veggie?). Then you select one of the four garlic lemon secret sauces. Finally, you choose from seven tropical relishes, and, if you want, you can add the traditional condiments such as ketchup and mustard.

My Puka Dog was delicious, with original garlic lemon secret sauce topped with papaya relish and lilikoi mustard—fruit-flavors I’d never tasted before on a hot dog. Surprisingly, it wasnʻt as fruity as I was afraid it was going to be. The grilled polish sausage was juicy and almost as long as the bun. It made me wish I could make lunches like this at home.


The best thing to drink after eating a Puka Dog is their fresh lemonade. Unlike lemonade from a carton, this one is squeezed and made right in front of you.

Besides the restaurant in the Waikiki Town Center on Oahu, there is a Puka Dog restaurant in the Poipu Shopping Village on Kauai.

Caution: Hold the Puka Dog straight up. Do not turn it sideways like you would a normal hot dog. The mustard slides off easily if you tilt it the wrong way.

I learned this the hard way after taking a photo of my lunch.
  

The new issue of HAWAII Magazine features a story on Maui Brewing Co., a Lahaina-based artisanal brewery crafting Hawaii-inspired beers.

Its brews have won international beer awards. Owner Garrett Marrero and brewmaster Tom Kerns use Hawaii-grown ingredients, when possible—fresh island-grown pineapple, Maui-made rum, Kauai lehua blossom honey.

But since opening in 2005, Marrero has also worked to make his company one of Maui’s most Earth-friendly. He’s one seriously resourceful brewer.

All of his delivery trucks—including his and wife Melanie’s cars—run on biodiesel he makes with his Kaanapali brewpub’s used vegetable oil. The brewpub’s lighting is entirely energy-saving compact fluorescent. Marrero is installing photovoltaic solar cells that will soon generate all of the brewery’s electricity.

Beer brewed by the Maui sun? What a concept.

Leftover grain, yeast and hops from the brewing process are given free to Maui farmers for use as pig and cattle feed, or to create compost fertilizer for produce. Marrero then purchases meat and produce from the farmers for his brewpub.

Maui Brewing Co.’s retro Hawaii-inspired packaging is made of recycled cardboard. Cans for restaurants and bars are delivered sans packaging in reusable trays.

About those cans. Why does Maui Brewing Co. sell its retail beer exclusively in cans instead of bottles? First off, they’re recyclable, use less energy to chill, transport and recycle again, and are made locally. It's also a taste issue.

“If a bottle took better care of the beer, I would be bottling,” says Marrero. “The cans have a water-based liner so the beer does not contact the aluminum. Cans don’t allow light exposure and oxygen pick-up, which affects taste. It’s beer as the brewer intends.”

Keeping things “green” is as important to Marrero (that's him in the photo) as the quality and taste of his beers.

“We’re not going to have a ‘zero (carbon) footprint’ at the brewery, but we’ll be damn close,” said Marrero. “That’s just something we believe is the right way to go. At the end of the day, it’s good to know that there’s one less smog cloud we’re contributing to.”

Maui Brewing Co.’s brewpub is located at the Kahana Gateway Center near Kaanapali Resort, 4405 Honoapiilani Highway, Maui. Call 808-669-0191. Check out the Maui Brewing Co. Web site for retail locations and online store.
   

People always say, “If you go to Kauai, you have to try Hamura’s Saimin.”  When I went to the Garden Isle, I had to see what everyone was talking about.

Hamura’s Saimin is hidden in the heart of Lihue. Even with the address in hand, you have to drive slowly, keeping your eyes open for a small, old blue building on Kress Street.
 
Hamura’s Saimin has been in business since 1951, and the building looks like it hasn’t been painted since then. The restaurant’s sign might be missing an “n,” but inside the local eatery, you’ll find one of Hawaii’s best bowls of saimin.

I ordered the “Special Regular”: noodles, fish cake, won ton, Chinese cabbage, a hard boil egg and pieces of pork in Hamura’s special secret broth.

Besides the ono (tasty) saimin, Hamura’s also sell BBQ beef and chicken skewers and, my favorite, Hamura’s famous lilikoi chiffon pie.

When the waitress brought my slice of pie, I forgot to take a picture of it. It went straight into my mouth. My apologies. I guess you’ll have to check it out yourself.

[Hamura’s Saimin, 2956 Kress St., (808) 245-3271]


 

Memo to John Heckathorn, editor, HAWAII Magazine:

Would it be waaaaay too out of line to ask that you send me on assignment to Lanai, just to attend a beer dinner at the Four Seasons Lodge at Koele on April 26?

Executive sous chef Thomas Bellec has crafted a five-course menu, paired with craft beers from Kona Brewing Co. Seared Kalua Pork wrapped in applewood-smoked bacon with parsnip puree, Brussels sprouts fricassee and a beer demi matched with a pint of Pipeline Porter. Warm brie cheese with roasted pear on egg brioche and beer glaze, paired with Steam Vent Lager. I'm even liking the organic green salad with Maui onion and venison pastrami, matched with Wailua Wheat beer.

There’s more on the menu. But you get the idea.

Dinner will be served in the Lodge’s way-refined Music Room, from 6 to 9 p.m. It’ll set us back $75, just for me, so I am guessing you shouldn’t come along, in the interest of budgetary restraint.

I can call (808) 565-2469 right now for a reservation.

The Lodge at Koele has done wine dinners and even a scotch dinner, previously. I missed those. It’d be a crime to miss this one, too.

I’d even be more than willing to stay overnight at the Lodge, if necessary. (Of course, I don’t just wallow in the lap of luxury. I could research Lanai beaches and lunch options in Lanai city the following day, before flying back to Oahu.)

Should I pack an overnight bag?

Derek
Web editor, HawaiiMagazine.com

P.S. HawaiiMagazine.com visitors should also feel free to make reservations. Perhaps I'll see you all there!
 
 

Thought we’d share a couple of kid-friendly packages we recently found out about from the folks at the Big Island’s Mauna Lani Resort and ResortQuest Hawaii.

The first is golf.

Already home to a couple of top-ranked courses designed by Francis H. Ii Brown, the Mauna Lani resort recently opened a nine-hole golf course for kids. Designed for junior golfers with some skills—if not enough to play the 18-hole Brown courses—and beginning players under age 18, the par 33 course is, according to the Mauna Lani, the only course of its kind in the state.

No surprise, if your child wants to learn how to play, the resort’s golf academy also offers customized lessons for beginning juniors. Golfers under age 14 must be accompanied by an adult.

Rates, tee times and more details are available here.

The second is more wide-ranging.

ResortQuest Hawaii’s family-friendly “Kids Stay, Play & Eat FREE” program offers just that.

Children under age 12 staying at ResortQuest properties statewide—accompanied by a paying adult, naturally—get free admission to Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park on Oahu, the Sugar Cane Train on Maui or Atlantis Submarines on the Big Island. They’ll also get free meals at various restaurants and complimentary swag from participating retailers.

You’ll find a full listing of statewide ResortQuest Kids offers here.

  

Vegans and vegetarians need not read further.

Beef. It’s what’s for dinner in HAWAII Magazine editor John Heckathorn’s dining column for the March issue of sister publication, Honolulu.

Ever the completist when it comes to dining out, our J. Heck sampled Wagyu and Angus ribeyes, NY cuts, filet mignons, Delmonicos and more at six Hawaii steakhouses on Maui and Oahu.

Fortunately, I toil at a desk near John, so I got to accompany him to two of these: one quite good, the other quite bad. See if you can figure out which was which when you check out John’s collection of Hawaii steakhouse reviews here.

(Hint: the good one served up a steak wonderfully seared over kiawe wood on a brass-and-copper cauldron; the bad one will, I think, be pretty obvious.)

After that, tell us below about a brush with dining nirvana—or the complete opposite—you’ve had in Hawaii.

Your fellow Hawaiimagazine.com gourmands are waiting.